Section: Biography

Postdoctoral Position Available

Lab Page Link

Zhiping Weng, Ph.D.

Academic Role: Professor

Faculty Appointment(s) In:
   Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
   Program in Bioinformatics & Integrative Biology

Other Affiliation(s):
   Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

Zhiping Weng graduated from theUniversity of Science and Technology of China in 1992 with B.S. in Electrical Engineering. In 1993, she entered the graduate program in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, and received her Ph.D. in 1997. The focus of her thesis research was in computational biology, specifically on calculating binding free energies of protein-protein interactions. In January 1997 Dr. Weng was appointed Instructor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. In that capacity she taught and conducted research, and had primary responsibility for the development of the Bioinformatics program and the core curriculum in Bioinformatics.  In January 1999 the Biomedical Engineering Department at Boston University decided to grow in the area of Bioinformatics.  After a national search, the department appointed Dr. Weng a tenure-track assistant professor. In September 2003, Dr. Weng was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. Until December 2007, Dr. Weng’s research had been focused on developing computational methods to obtain a predictive understanding of transcriptional regulation and protein-protein interaction. She had published 90 articles, including 75 peer-reviewed journal articles.

On 1 January 2008, Dr. Weng moved to University of Massachusetts Medical School to build and direct a new Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology. She is a full professor, with tenure in Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. She continues research on computational analysis of transcriptional regulation. She has started to study epigenomics and nucleosome positioning, which play important roles in transcriptional regulation. In addition, she is investigating the function and regulation of small RNAs in metazoan. For more information, please visit Dr. Weng's lab Website (http://zlab.umassmed.edu/ ).

Office: LRB 1010
Phone: 508-856-8866
Fax: 508-856-2392
E-mail: Zhiping.Weng@umassmed.edu
Keywords: Systems Biology, Genomics, Bioinformatics, Gene Expression, Gene Regulation

More on Zhiping Weng's Research Research | Publications | Rotations | Biography View All Sections on One Page

Postdoctoral Position Available Please contact Dr. Weng directly for more information regarding this post-doctoral position. Postdoc Position in Comparative Genomics The laboratories of Profs. Zhiping Weng (Bioinformatics) and Bob Brown (Neurology) at University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) invite applications for a postdoc position in comparative genomics. In an NIH-funded project undertaken jointly with Dr. David Goldstein (Director, Center for Human Genome Variation, Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, Duke University), the Brown lab will perform whole genome sequencing with the Solexa platform on 40 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. The postdoc will develop and apply computational tools to analyze this wealth of sequence data and identify genetic variations among the individuals and prioritize them with other functional data, such as those generated with the HapMap and ENCODE projects. Subsequently, the Brown lab will genotype the prioritized variations in cohorts of 1,000 cases and 1,000 controls, and the postdoc will participate in the analysis of the resulting data to discover determinants of susceptibility and phenotype. An ideal candidate would have a PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, computer science, or another quantitative field and have substantial experience in analyzing high-throughput genomics data. Excellent programming skills and statistics knowledge are essential. UMMS is a highly collaborative research environment and Profs. Weng and Brown have recently been recruited to UMMS to establish the Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology and neurogenetics research in the Neurology Department. The collaboration between the two labs will lead to many future projects in comparative genomics and its application to human diseases.